Does anyone do it - or is it the biggest waste of God's time this side of watching grass grow ?
I have NEVER enjoyed cooking - you put in aeons of time for something that gives you minutes of pleasure.
It's so involved and fiddly - and by the time you've finished doing it, you don't want to eat it anyway.
I only use ONE cooking utensil - the microwave.
If it needs to be hot, it needs to be microwaved - end of story.
I only eat bread, potatoes, veg, fruit, unsweetened cereals and semi-skimmed milk anyway - and the spuds/veg/cereals do brilliantly in the MW.
My mum was undx'ed ADD (IMO) and couldn't be bothered with cooking - and I'm sure it's a problem with delayed gratification in adders thing.
I simply cannot justify the unbelievable amounts of time and thought cooking requires - particularly when you think of what ultimately happens to it .... hehe.
Eating is great - but just isn't worthy of investing so much time in such a fleeting pleasure.
Jees, I know people that spend half their leisure time cooking ..... and people talk about adders wasting their lives !
Addled

I love cooking. It's creative and you get to enjoy your work right away. The dishes on the other hand, often don't get cleaned for a couple of days!

you get to enjoy your work right away
Uuum .... are you sure about this ?
It's one of the reasons I CAN'T be bothered with it - waiting for water to boil, things to melt, things to brown, things to bake, vegetables to prep, meat to defrost .... it's just WAIT, WAIT, WAIT :dizzy:
Perhaps cooking-aversion should be added to the DSM-IV as a diagnostic symptom .... hehe.

Heh. This is why, once you've put the main course in the oven/pot/broiler...then you start on the salad, appetizer, dessert :)

But what about all that EFFORT ?
And what if you don't have an appetizer ?
How can ANYONE even possibly like cooking ?
It ain't normal I tells ye .... it just ain't natural.
That said, I love the results of other people's efforts in the kitchen ... oh yes.
Does that make me a typical chauvanist piglet ?
Apologies if it does.

^oink! :D (j/k -- I enjoy other people's efforts too!)

I sometimes like to cook, but involved recipes don't seem worth the trouble anymore. If I did not have small children underfoot, I might have more patience for it, maybe? Nah.... ;)

Oh, I couldn't cook all that, all the time, at least not for myself.

I really do love instant gratification. So, unless its a special occassion, I'll stick with instant food as well <G>.

I love cooking I just hate all the work preparing and cleaning up after...

Most housework I have to do routinely I hate to do. Strangely, I don't hate cooking, because it takes me almost no concentration or time (relative to other tasks). Ten-to-twenty minutes, with the kitchen TV for company. I open the fridge/freezer, glance at the cupboard, grab stuff and FLY. I internalized processes long ago and don't need a cookbook. Compared with most chores, cooking is (for me) creative, immediate and very accessible to the senses. Never the same meal twice. I couldn't manage that!

Finally, though, if i didn't feed my disabled husband, I'd get charged with criminal neglect. Years ago, when he was "able," he moved out for an extended period. I didn't cook for myself and I didn't miss it. I lived on fudgecicles and and cigarettes, and that was okay, too (and very slimming!).

I love cooking, too. I almost became a chef but didn't because I like interaction with people. I hate baking. It's too exact. If you don't put exactly the right amount of flour or baking soda or whatever, it doesn't turn out right. But cooking, is so creative and fun. You can make it up as you go along. I just try and clean up as I go along so it's not a big mess at the end. I also love eating and things that taste good, so its worth it to me to make something from scratch than to heat up something in the microwave. YUCK. My parents are german immigrants so I grew up in the kitchen with my Mom, being her little helper. It's one of the few things I'm really good at. My friends beg me to cook their favorite dishes.

I don't understand how people like gardening or sewing. Picking weeds is so boring and I prefer to buy my clothes already made.

Andrea

I like cooking on special occations, or with special foods. Other than that sometimes I'd rather starve. When I do cook, I'm running around like mad and there's plenty to keep me occupied; and since there are usually people over it is the perfect way for me to be comfortable socializing as little as possible yet still being a part of the occasion. These days I hate being on the recieving end of a meal, that's when all I have to do is sit and talk while my legs are twitching; begging the cook to let me help them! But I definately relate with the clean-up! Hate it. Thank goodness we finally got a dishwaser last night *joy*

I'm starting to get into gardening. I think I'm doing the most fun part right now- breaking my back with a shovel and getting really dirty digging and digging. As for the weeds, I'll leave them alone!!! Some of what I am growing inside right now are considered weeds by some people anyway! I get really depressed without flowers and green things...

I tried sewing once for a heritage festival. That is one nightmare I will NEVER repeat. NEEEEEEVEEEERRRRR!!!!!! The sight of a sewing machine makes me see red after that catastrophe! I still went to the festival, in my half-sewn dress, and slept in the hot sun after nearly a week of up-all nighters sewing.

i can be so precise when i am cooking. i can also substitute at whim. depends what mood i am in.

when i am hyperfocusing i *hate* distractions when i am cooking. i get very focused on the end result being perfect. even if everyone else is enjoying supper and making lots of yummy sounds, i can't relax and enjoy it too -- unless it came out how i expected it to. and if anyone makes any suggestions on how to improve the recipe, or, :shudder: adds salt. well, let's just say it's not pretty ... ;)

other times the most fun i have is throwing odd ingredients together just to see what will happen. sometimes it is an experiment best not repeated.... and i am o.k. with it when i'm in that mindset. obviously, my family likes it when i cook with more of a free spirit -- even if the food doesn't taste as good. :)

my kitchen, however, is almost always a mess.

Today was a good example of how ADD can affect my cooking. I foolishly agreed to go to a little gathering where we would each bring a breakfast dish. I picked a recipe and picked up the ingredients the day before, but didn't make the dish that night because I figured there'd be time in the morning. (Besides, I just didn't feel like it.)

As I started on the recipe, I noticed that it was actually going to take me a bit longer than I thought. The recipe was badly written, and I had to read it several times to make sense of it. It cooked oddly (maybe because the oven thermostat has been acting up), browning rapidly around the edges but not in the middle. It looked weird. It occurred to me that I really had no idea what it was supposed to look like. I hoped it was OK.

I ran upstairs to type up the recipe for printing. I rewrote the recipe and reformatted it, using bullets and colored fonts to make it easier to follow. Suddenly, it was time to leave, and after a frantic search we found shoes for both children to wear. I carried the baking dish uncovered, since I'd broken the cover several weeks before. I didn't worry about this until the dish was sitting on the floor of the van, sliding gracefully every time I made a turn. I was shocked when we made it there with the dish intact. It still looked weird.... but everyone liked it.

Next time, I'll be more organized. (Shut up! It could happen! :p )

Oh everybody, this is so wonderful! Krisp, you wrote that so nicely that I could SEE what you were doing and feel your mood. Wheezie, I hate to be watched or critiqued, too. I get compliments for my cooking when company comes, but please no "helpers." Guests: Here's the beer and wine and some CDs. Please entertain yourselves. In fact, cooperative cooking sounds like a recipe for an Ace panic attack.

andreaa000, I came from ethnically German background too, but I didn't and don't like that cuisine. Julia Child was my idol from the time I got my own kitchen. She once said that if you drop the roast turkey as you enter the dining room just say to the guests, "Excuse me, I'll be back in a minute with the other turkey." She also said that if your dish doesn't turn out like the named dish in the cookbook, just call it something else.

Baking IS too precise, I agree. Middle East/South-Central Asian food is my special favorite to make. Most people don't know whether you've made it correctly or not, and it tastes great.

I clean up as I go, too, because I don't have a lot of counter space, and my kitchen—messy by most standards—is the most organized area in my house.
Just don't look at the floor too closely. Gravity is an enemy to ADDers!

if your dish doesn't turn out like the named dish in the cookbook, just call it something else.
LOL
"So what's for dinner ?"
"Dunno, 'til it's finished cooking !"

Originally posted by Ace
Gravity is an enemy to ADDers!

Amen, sister! :D

Ace,

I've watched Julia Childs since I was a little girl. At 16, I wanted to become a chef and attend the San Francisco Culinary Arts Academy. By the time I graduated high school (if you call a 1.8 GPA graduating) my parents had other ideas of what to do with me. They sent me to a private boarding school in Bavaria where I learned about all facets of the hotel business. Every other week was class work (14 subjects) and the other weeks were practical (cooking, baking, food service, front desk, bartending, housekeeping, bookeeping, etc.) It was then I realized I didn't want to be a chef. Too much grunt work and not enough contact with other people.

I love middle eastern food (I had a Lebanese roomate for 4 years). I love Asian food (started eating sushi at 10). I love french food (rich and creamy sauces) and I really love german cooking. I'm a meat eater so I love my pork roast and goulasch with dumplings. I could go on.

MMmmmm...........I'm hungry........see ya!

Andrea

I used to think I hated it b/c my mother loves it. Now I realize that she's ADD in denial and one of the reasons I hated it was b/c she used to take so long to get everything on the table and would get mad if people got hungry before SHE got ready to serve. (She still does it.) And it didn't help that my dad - also ADD in denial - was rarely home for dinner during the week b/c he was at his job overworking.

I still don't love it b/c I think it's fiddly too. But the one time it's fun is when I'm doing a crock pot dish to take to dinner with my friends. You just throw the meat (or fish, or whatever protein - BUT NOT TOFU) and vegetables and spices into the pot and let the pot cook them. Four hours later, you have a cool meal and everyone thinks you're a good cook. Dopamine rush! :D

I love to cook too, but lately have been unable to unless I have helpers. I can barely lift a frying pan some days. Pans of water, forget it. Hubby has basically taken over in the kitchen. On my good days I can usually start something in the crockpot.